Dying Embers
by The Uncreative
Summary: A story about Flames Hazes, Crimson Denizens and a war.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes:**

Finally got around to working on this story again. This is a story idea I've had for a while, and I even put the first chapter up… ooh, a year ago, I think. I didn't quite like how it worked out so I deleted it and now we're back! I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with how this chapter turned out, but oh well. It'll get better with time. Since this is just a prologue I don't really have anything to say. See you all next chapter.

**Prologue**

"And you're absolutely, completely certain he ran here?" I ask.

"100 percent certain!" is the response. "I kept a good eye on every single one of his movements, I know his every foot step!"

"I get it, I get it. I'm just asking because the last time we did a road trip like this you told me that freaky jellyfish denizen fled to Rome when he was just chillin' in Hawaii."

"Not this time! He's here, in Japan! I'm super totally certain!"

"Right, right, I get it. Bastard better not be vacationing in Hawaii."

"I could go for a vacation. Not even in Hawaii, just a vacation in general."

"Hey, Crimson Denizens wait for no one," I reply. "If we don't kick their ass than way too many people get eaten."

"I mean yeah but, vacation!"

"Quit complaining Serah, we've got a target to track down," I tell her.

"You're always a lot less fun when you're on the job, Eve."

"Flame Hazes aren't supposed to be about having fun, are they?" I ask. "Don't worry, once we deal with this guy we can grab a celebratory desert. You know, ice cream or something."

"Really?!" Serah asks. "I want vanillia!"

"It's vanilla," I correct her. "One I too many."

"Who cares, let's track down that guy and get that ice cream!"

"I think your priorities are a little skewed," I remark dryly. "Ah well. Point the way."

***Scene Break***

Right, so, if you haven't figured out, I'm a flame haze. You know, supernatural bounty hunter who goes around beating up Crimson Denizens and all that good stuff. Fun stuff. Not a very well paying job, but someone has to do it.

My name is Eve Vermillion, and I'm relatively new at this. I don't know how long you need to be a flame haze before you're considered a veteran, but I've only been at it for about half a year, so I've got a lot of stuff to learn. It doesn't help that the Crimson God or Lord or whatever they're called that I contracted with is an idiot. Don't get me wrong, I like Serah just fine. We actually get along really well. The problem is she goes at her own pace. That helps more often than it hinders, but considering we're busy saving lives I'd prefer it if she focused a little less on ice cream. It doesn't help that she's apparently super weak. I was under the impression that becoming a flame haze was supposed to turn you into a super awesome fire throwing bounty hunting superhuman or something like that. I don't get that, Serah's too weak to offer any of that. I still get by. I won't be shooting down gods any time soon, but I don't need to.

Aaaaanyway, back to work. Gotta track down that one guy we were tracking. Serah starts pointing me through various alleys and streets and taking me through a rather roundabout tour of the city.

"Nice place," I say. "What's it called again?"

"Misaki City, if I'm remembering right," Serah answers. "Don't bother asking for the city's complete history, I wouldn't know it."

"I wasn't expecting you to, don't worry."

"Are you making fun of me again?" Serah starts pouting. "I'm like a million years old, I've got life experience! I know way more than you!"

"I'd have an easier time believing that if you acted like it," I tell her. "Not that that really matters at the moment, we don't need an entire history about this place. So are we getting close?"

"Um…"

Before Serah can answer, the world stops. Everything turns a muddy red, people on the street freeze in place and the air takes on a very distinct flavor.

"A seal," I remark.

"So yes, we're close!" Serah announces.

"Good to know. Weapons please."

"Got it!"

Serah uses a bit of her magic to arm me in preparation for a coming fight. Nothing fancy, just a sword in my left hand and a knife in my right. I was thinking about getting something a bit more fancy and extravagant, but I figured simplicity is best.

"All right, let's go!"

Turns out, as expected, we didn't need to go far. The perpetrator wasn't too far off. He was just around the corner, sucking up everyone's souls. Or existences or whatever it is that Denizens devour. The target this time was a lizard man. By lizard man, I mean he was just a lizard, but he stood on his hind legs, was maybe six feet tall, and was holding a sword with a serrated edge. I didn't quite care what his name was, all I cared about was that he tried to devour a close friend of mine, and I'm not letting him get away with that.

"Oi, lizard face!" Serah yells. "Stop eating people so I can go get ice cream!"

"Eh? Oh, that blonde brat from New York," the lizard man says. "So, you followed me all the way out here."

"Of course we followed you!" Serah exclaims. "You're an evil Denizen who ate a whole lot of innocent people and you nearly at Eve's boyfriend!"

"Woah, hey, back up! We aren't dating," I correct Serah. "I mean, we saw a movie together once, but that's really it."

Fortunately, lizard man wasn't keen on learning about my not-love life, and immediately ran at me, his sword at the ready. I sidestep the swing, spin around and slash at his back with my sword. He swings at me and I block it with my knife. I get ready to swing my sword at him, but he punches me in the stomach and knocks me back a few steps. The lizard man then swings around and smacks me with his tail, knocking me to the ground. He leaps up and attempts to land on me, sword point first, but I dodge by rolling to the side. I pull myself to my feet just in time to block another sword strike. I swing my knife and manage to get a good strike in, cutting good line through his chest. The lizard roars in pain and readies his sword for another swing when suddenly someone shoves a sword through his chest.

"Eh?" Both me and the lizard man say in surprise.

The lizard burst into flames and slowly disappears, revealing the intruder. Short girl with long red hair, red eyes, and a wielding a katana. Oh, she must be the local flame haze.

"Are you okay?" the girl asks me.

"I've been worse," I say. "Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome," a voice from nowhere, probably her contracter, says. "Though, if you don't mind, would you perhaps answer while why you're in this city? We haven't had and denizens in this city for a long time."

"We were just here on some business," Serah says.

"Taking care of that lizardy asshole," I clarify.

"And now that we took care of that, we can get that ice cream that Eve promised me!" Serah says.

The air shimmers next to me, and a little girl, a bit shorter than the flame haze that just showed up, with curly blonde hair and wearing a fancy dress appears out of thin air. She grabs onto my arm and starts pulling me.

"Okay Eve, this way! We passed a dessert shop on our way here so this way!"

"Wait, Serah, not now. Introductions. Manners are important, remember?" I tell her.

"… Ooooooooh. Right." Serah turns and bows towards the flame haze. "My name is Serah. I'm the Crimson Lord who contracted Eve. I'm like a billion years old and I really like ice cream!"

"And desserts in general," I add.

"I do like sweets," Serah confirms.

"Anyway, I'm Eve. I'm kind of new at this flame haze thing," I say.

"And that's it!" Serah says. "We haven't been a pair long enough to have anything of note, but we're totally going to be the best flame haze pair ever!"

"It's good to have a goal," the voice says. "I am Alastor."

"Gasp!" Serah says, rather than gasps. "Like, super awesome Crimson God of Judgement, Alastor?"

"That is correct," he confirms.

I let loose a low whistle.

"A god, huh? Making a contract and becoming the vessel of a god is pretty damn impressive. Bet there's a story behind that, huh short stuff?"

"There is," the girl tells me. "My name is Shana. It's good to meet you."

"Likewise," I say. "Well, I imagine I'll be talking to you again. For now, this one needs her dessert."

"Exactly, let's go!" Serah says, pulling me away from the conversation. "Bye Alastor, bye Shana, we'll see you soon! Okay Eve, the ice cream shop is this way."

That was my first meeting with Alastor and Shana. Obviously it wouldn't be the last time. I'd say something ominous like, "the next time we met would be under significantly less happy circumstances," but the next time we met wasn't that bad. It wasn't until a bit later that things went south, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Ice cream now, serious stuff later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Notes:**

A bit of a simple chapter, just Serah and Eve having a chat at a dessert cafe. Really the most important part of this chapter, at least to me, was establishing the relationship between Eve and Serah. Not so much that they're good friends, that's something that was mentioned last chapter, but how they bounce off each other. That's the thing I like most about this story is being able to write the interactions between these two. It's a lot of fun, I'll say that much. Anyway, I don't have much to say about this chapter. See you all next time.

**Chapter 1**

Serah pulled me down quite a few streets until we finally reached the desert store she was talking about. You know, when she said we passed this store on the way here, I figured she meant it was just a few turns away. Instead, we wound up walking for about half an hour. Not quite the light job I was anticipating. Once we finally got to the desert store Serah burst right in and started looking at all the various confectionaries on display.

"Should I try the ice cream? Oh, that chocolate looks so good though! Maybe some mochi? Isn't that just ice cream? It looks so good!" Serah's brain and mouth both start running at about a million miles a minute.

"We'll take a large bowl of vanilla ice cream," I tell the man at the counter who nods and gets our bowl ready.

"Aww, just vanillia?" Serah asks. "I wanted something fancier!"

"If you remember the conversation we had where I promised you desert I said it would be vanilla ice cream and that's it," I tell her. "Oh, and it's vanilla, not vanillia."

"Right, vanillia" Serah says, not caring enough to actually correct her speech. "Oh well, I love ice cream!"

Really? I had no idea. I had you pegged as a baked goods kind of girl. Anyway, the man at the counter hands us two spoon and our bowl of ice cream. Me and Serah take a seat at a nearby table and dig in. Well, Serah digs in. That's one thing that's great about being friends with Serah: I never have to worry about going on a diet. Considering how much this black hole sucks in it's a miracle I even have enough to keep myself running.

"Hey Serah, there's something that's been bugging me," I say.

"What's that, Eve?" she asks through spoonfuls of vanilla.

"Since you're my contractor and all that, you're technically inside me, right?" I ask.

"That's how it works," Serah informs me. "When the contract is made the Crimson Lord goes into hibernation inside the Flame Haze's body. If we didn't do that hibernation thing then we'd burn our new buddies from the inside-out. That's why we have the Flame Haze's carry those vessels, so we can actually know what's going on."

I grab the ring I have hanging around my neck and look at it. So, if I were to get rid of this then Serah would have no idea what's going on, huh? And she wouldn't be able to talk, or eat the desert I put in the fridge and _very clearly labeled as mine._ That wouldn't be a bad thing, I suppose.

"Right, so I understand that," I say as I watch her keep tearing into the ice cream. "That being the case what exactly am I looking at right now?" Besides the obvious answer of a little girl with a sweet tooth and a bottomless pit for a digestive system.

"You mean my body?" Serah asks.

"Yeah. I mean, is that even your actual body?" I ask. "Is that what you really look like?"

"Well, yes and no," Serah says. "No, this isn't what I really look like in my super awesome Crimson Lord form. However, for all intents and purposes this is my actual body. I simply use a variation on an illusion spell I'm fond of and create a body using a little energy. I can control and act through this body as if it were my own. However, I do still reside in your body, so it's not like I can act independently. I still need to stick with you or this body wouldn't be able to hear or see anything."

"Any particular reason you like running around as a little girl?" I ask.

"It's easier to interact with people like this!" Serah says. "I can't have conversation with people or eat ice cream if I'm a ring tied around your neck, can I?"

"I suppose not," I concede. "It just seems weird to me considering I've never seen any other flame hazes who run around like that."

"Well after running around the world for a trillion years it's become a bit of a habit for me," Serah says, putting her spoon in the now empty bowl. "I like being able to stretch my legs a bit."

I refrain from point out that she apparently gets older whenever she brings up her age. Next she'll be telling me she's older than the universe itself. I've given up on ever finding out how old she is, and I'm convinced Serah herself doesn't know the answer to that question.

"Okay then, I think I get it," I say. "That's just a body you created with an illusion spell-"

"Not an illusion spell," Serah corrects. "Just something very similar to one."

"That being the case," I continue. "Why can't you pull off any other awesome spells? Wouldn't it make fighting crimson denizens so much easier if you pulled off some awesome spells to help out?"

"It certainly would make it a lot easier!" Serah says enthusiastically. "The problem is I can't do that!"

"And why not?" I ask.

"Because I'm old, weak and slowly going senile," Serah says.

"Only one of those sounds believable," I say.

"What, me being weak?" Serah asks.

"No, being senile," I reply.

"Hey, don't be so mean!" Serah says, puffing out her cheeks in anger. It's actually really cute. "Anyway, yeah, I'm super weak. Pulling off this spell is as much as I can do, and even that uses a lot of energy. If I didn't get a lot of sugar and stuff then I wouldn't be able to maintain it for very long."

"That sounds more like an excuse than anything," I say.

"It's really not!" Serah insists. "… Well…"

"Wait, are you telling me that Serah, an almighty Crimson Lord, would actually lie to me just so she could get more desserts?" I ask. "Why, I never. I'm soooo disappointed."

"I-I'm not lying!" Serah insists, starting to tear up a little. "I'm not a liar!"

"It's okay Serah, I'm just messing with you," I say as I pat her on the head to calm her down.

"R-really?" Serah asks.

"Yes, really," I tell her. "Now wait here for a bit. I'm going to grab you some more ice cream."

"Really?!" Serah perks up.

"Yes, really," I confirm.

"Yay!" Serah cheers. "I love you Eve, you're the best!"

"Well, I try not to advertise that too much," I say.

I go back to the counter, buy another bowl of vanilla ice cream and head back for the table. Serah starts digging in again, but this time she actually allows me to get a few spoonfuls for myself. How nice of her.

"So, what's after this?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" Serah asks.

"We're done here, right?" I ask. "We were here to kill the lizard dude, now we head back to New York, right?"

Serah puts her spoon down and starts thinking. The fact that she actually stopped eating for even a second tells me that apparently something serious is going on in that head of hers. The fact that half of face was covered in ice cream did nothing to detract from the seriousness of this situation. … Okay, that's a complete lie. This situation wasn't serious yet, and the fact that she hasn't noticed all that ice cream is really kind of funny. Luckily the man at the counter was nice enough to give me some napkins. Napkins that I begin making good use of.

"I… don't know," Serah says as I work on wiping her face clean.

"Is something bugging you?" I ask. "By that I mean, 'what exactly is bugging you?'"

"I don't know," Serah repeats. "Something in the wind just feels off."

"And what's that even mean?" I ask as I finish up cleaning Serah's face.

"Well, an old contact of mine told me that apparently something big was coming to Japan-"

"No, sorry, back up," I tell her. "Old contact? What, are you an information broker now?"

"I have tons of friends who tell me all sorts of stuff all the time!" Serah insists. "Anyway, he told me that something big was coming to Japan, but he failed to specify what that meant."

"And where was I when this happened?" I ask.

"Oh, this was last week, when you were taking a shower," Serah says. "You left me in the living room, and that's when he came by and talked to me."

"… Riiiiight," I say. I dunno, something about those sentences weirds me out, but whatever. "And you think that this thing that's coming to Japan is going to be here?"

"… Maybe?" Serah offers with a nervous smile. "I can't exactly say why, because I don't know for sure, but this entire city feels weird to me, and like I said, I can kind of keel it on the wind."

"To which I again ask, what does that mean?" I ask.

"I keep getting this weird feeling," Serah says. "Like there's something I should know but don't. I _HATE_ not knowing something."

"So if nothing else you want to stay and figure out what's causing this weird feeling?" I ask.

"Pretty please?" Serah asks, pleading with her best puppy dog eyes.

"Hey, it's summertime, I don't have to worry about school for three months," I say. "I'm free to go wherever the hell you want."

"Really?" Serah asks.

"Of course," I tell her. "If you think something's fishy here, then we can stay. Besides, if something goes wrong I'd rather it go wrong in a place where we at least have back up."

"We have back up?" Serah asks.

"Shana, remember?" I say. "Sure, we don't know her well, but she's still a Flame Haze so she'll certainly help us, right?"

"Oh, right!" Serah says happily. "And she's Alastor's contractee, so she has to be super strong!"

"He is a god, apparently," I say. "Kind of hard to get any tougher than that."

"Right so here's our new plan," Serah says. "Firstly, I finish this ice cream-"

"An obvious course of action," I respond.

"Secondly, we find a place to actually live while we're staying here-"

"Doesn't seem like an awful idea."

"Thirdly, we find out what's weird about this city, stop it, and then we can go back home!" Serah says.

"Sounds about right," I say. "How about we get started then?"

"Right away!" Serah says, raising her spoon high above her head before going back to shoveling the ice cream down her throat as quickly as possible. One bonus to her not having a real body: no chance of brain freeze.

"A-ah!" Serah yells in pain. "O-ow, headache. Owowowowow."

… Well, I retract my previous statement.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

It's been a few days since me and Serah arrived in Misaki city. Despite Serah's worrying, nothing had happened that was particularly noteworthy. No evildoers showed up, no apocalyptic scenarios reared their ugly head, nothing. Despite that, each day that went by simply made Serah more and more nervous.

"You really need to chill out," I said to Serah as we were walking around the town.

"H-huh?" Serah says. "Sorry Eve, did you say something?"

"Yes, I said you need to chill out," I repeat. "All worrying's going to do is make you start looking your age."

"… I don't get it," Serah says.

"Forget about that," I say. "Seriously though, what's got you so worked up? Are we out of ice cream at the apartment?"

"That has nothing to do with it!" Serah exclaims. "… Though we are, would you mind picking up some more when you get the chance?"

"Sure," I reply. "Back to the main topic. You can't still be worried about that thing that's apparently going to happen, are you?"

"No… Yes… Probably," Serah seems incredibly unsure of herself. "I don't even know why I'm so nervous. It's probably nothing, right?"

"I dunno, you're the one with all the contacts apparently," I tell her. "I don't know anything about Denizens and all that crazy business."

"I mean, yeah, he did tell me about that something was coming, but he didn't tell me what," Serah says. "He's never left out something that important, so I'm all jittery thinking about it."

"You sure that's not ice cream withdrawal?" I ask.

"Of course not!" Serah yells at me. "… Yeah, it's totally not!"

Well that good. Ice cream withdrawal isn't something to be taken lightly, so the fact that Serah's okay puts me at ease.

"… Weeeeeeeell, no point in worry about it," Serah says eventually. "Whatever happens, happens. Let's walk around more, I want to see if there's anything interesting around here!"

"It's just a normal city, I highly doubt we'll find anything that noteworthy," I tell her. "But it's not like I've got anything better to do. Come along now."

"Yay!" Serah cheers.

Serah grabs onto my hand and we start walking through the city.

"Any particular reason you're holding my hand?" I ask her.

"If I get distracted and wander too far away from you I can't maintain the spell keeping this body alive," Serah tells me. "If that happens it would just fade away and that would weird some people out, wouldn't it? This way there's no chance of that happening!"

"Fair enough," I say. "Come on, little sis."

"I'm like a quadrillion years older than you!" Serah says, puffing out her cheeks and pouting. "Why am I the little sister?"

"Because that's exactly what this image would look like to anyone watching," I tell her.

"I guess," Serah admits with a pout. "I should have made an older looking body. I could have been the big sister."

"Quit complaining," I tell her. "You're the one who wanted to see all the cool stuff around here, right?"

"Right!" Serah says, perking right up again. "Come on big sis, let's go!"

I simply smile and let Serah start pulling me through the town. After all, there's no reason for me to point out that she immediately fell into her role as the younger sibling. It'd just make her start pouting again.

And so we went up and down the street of Misaki. We saw a bunch of bakeries, grocery stores, we even passed an arcade. Pretty nice city. Nice clean air, there isn't a million people trying to fit in a space for built for ten, and I haven't almost been run over yet. Quite a different place from New York. … Much more boring place, I'll say that. If I can't walk from point A to point B and feel like my life is in peril then it's not a fun city. As a flame haze, I feel that if the most threatening thing in my life isn't the mundane aspects, then something has gone terribly wrong.

"What are you mumbling about?" Serah asks me.

"About how much fun it is to have your biggest threat be the city you live in," I reply.

"Ah. I understand," Serah says. "Personally I like living in a nice, quiet city. You can just take a load off and relax any time you want! It's so peaceful and tranquil."

"I'd never make it a week," I tell her. "I thrive on the hustle and bustle of it all."

"That's because you're weird," Serah tells me."

"I guess I can't really deny that," I say. "Let's get off that topic. Nice river."

"Yep," Serah says, looking at the river we were walking near. "I think it's manmade, but I don't know that for certain. Certainly seems like it. Seems like it'd be a really nice place to meet with someone for a date."

"Or for working out, if you're into that," I respond. "Or heck, just sitting down and reading a book."

"That sounds nice," Serah says with a smile. "Just sitting at the riverbank, reading a book and eating some vanillia ice cream. Eve, we totally have to try that while we're here!"

"I'd be up for it," I respond. "I'm okay with quiet in small doses. Reading a book seems like the kind of quiet I'd be all over."

"Well, we'd have to find a time when these two aren't using it," Serah says. "They seem to be using it right now."

Sure enough, two people were indeed using the riverbank right now. Looks like we walked into a Seal occupied by some pink haired maid and the flame haze girl we met a few days ago. Seems like they're doing some training, with the maid shooting ribbons and Shana fending them off with some giant flaming arm. There's a "Shana used Fire Punch. It's super effective!" joke in here somewhere, but I don't feel like digging around for it.

"Serah, you didn't tell me there were two flame hazes in this city," I say. "… Come to think of it, you didn't tell me that there was even one. What gives?"

"Sorry, was I supposed to mention stuff like that?" Serah asks with a tilt of her head. "I didn't think it was that important. Besides, there's actually three, but I don't know where the third one is."

"So what, is this just like the safest city ever?" I ask. "I can't think of many Denizen related incidents that couldn't be solved by three capable flame hazes."

"I can," Serah says. "Fortunately the war was a loooooong time ago and all conflict from it has long since been buried."

"I've never been good at history," I respond. "I couldn't bring myself to care about the events enough to remember them."

"I'm pretty good at remembering stuff when I want to," Serah says proudly.

"So, can you remember why I can't do stuff like that," I say, motioning towards Shana practicing that giant flaming arm thing. "Seems like it'd be pretty helpful."

"You already know why," Serah says with a pout. "I can't so much as light a spark any more. It's lame."

"You're telling me," I reply, turning to watch the professional flame haze practice. Man, I wish I could pull off stuff like that. The maid's doing some awesome stuff with her ribbon manipulation, and Shana's got some really good control over her powers. After an unsuccessful barrage of attacks, the maid flips backwards a few times and looks satisfied.

"Splended," the maid says.

"Clear improvement," what I assume to be her contractor agrees.

"It's not good enough," Shana says, dismissing the flame arm.

"I dunno, it was still way more impressive than anything I could ever hope to do," I say, jumping into the conversation. "I'd be happy with being able to light a fire in winter."

"That's what heaters are for!" Serah counters.

"It's the principle of the thing," I respond. "Anyway, nice to see you again Shana, and a pleasure to meet you Miss Maid. I'm Eve, I'm new here, and this is my contractor, Serah."

"Pleasure to meet you!" Serah says.

"Likewise," the maid says. "Shana had informed me that another flame haze had arrived. My name is Wilhelmina. My contractor-"

"Wait, don't tell me!" Serah says. She puts her fingers to her temples, closes her eyes and concentrates really hard. "Um… Wilhelmina Carmel, the manipulator of objects, and her contractor Tiamet, the Crown-and-Sash of Fantasies! Did I get it?"

"You're correct," Tiamet says.

"Awright!" Serah celebrates by punching the air. "I've still got it!"

"Well I'm glad one of us knows who she is," I say. "So, you're training here?"

"It always helps to keep one's senses sharp," Alastor says.

"Sure, but didn't Shana mention that a denizen hasn't shown up for months?" I ask. "Seems more like it'd be a time to let the sense dull a bit and take a vacation."

"A powerful enemy could show up at any time," Shana says. "We need to always be prepared."

"I guess," I say with a shrug. "I suppose I'm just salty because I don't have anything to train. I don't know any unrestricted spells or fancy stuff I can use in combat."

"Spells aren't the only way to win a battle," Wilhelmina says. "A flame haze's skill can always be the deciding point in a battle."

"I beat things up often enough that I think I can keep that part covered," I respond.

"Of course we also get beaten up just as often," Serah points out.

"Everything has a counter," I resond.

"Forgive me if I sound rude, but what is your business in this city?" Wilhelmina asks.

"Curious," Tiamet says.

"No forgiveness necessary," I respond. "I was hunting a Denizen, and we tracked him down here. Shana took care of that one for us. Thanks for that, by the way."

"You're welcome," she says. "If the denizen you were hunting is dead, why are you still here? Do you still have something else to do?"

"Serah's paranoid and convinced something's going to happen," I say.

"You call it paranoia, I call it… Well I also call it paranoia," Serah admits. "It's good paranoia though! Roffy told me that something huge is coming here, and he's always been really good at telling me important stuff!"

No idea who Roffy is. Old friend or something, Serah's really good at bringing up people she used to know. I was actually going to ask who Serah was talking about, but I held the question back when I saw everyone else tense up. What, what's going on? Did a breeze blow past and it's really cold out? Guys, don't lock me out of the loop.

"Do you feel that?" Wilhelmina asks Shana.

"Yes, another Crimson Denizen," Shana responds.

"Considering how strong it seems, it's most likely a Crimson Lord," Alastor corrects.

… Oh, they're doing some kind of power level thing. Because flame hazes can do that, apparently. Maybe Serah knows more.

"Serah, want to fill me in discreetly," I whisper to her. "… Serah?"

Serah had a look on her face I'd never seen before. It was a cross between absolute terror and pure fury.

"… No, that can't be…" Serah says.

"Can't be what?" Shana asks.

"I know this feeling," Serah says. "But that can't be him. He's been dead for a long time."

"Who's supposed to be dead?" I ask. "Serah, you got really weird all of a sudden."

Serah's body briefly shines and disappears.

"No time for messing around," I hear Serah's voice. "Eve, follow my directions. We're tracking him down. I have to make sure it isn't him."

"… Um, sure?" I offer. "I don't know what's going on, but sure. Wilhelmina, Shana, I'll go scope out the damages and let you know what's going on. Any way to contact you if I need to?"

"Yes," Tiamet says as Wilhelmina pulls a cell phone out of her pocket. I trade numbers with her quickly, and start following Serah's directions.

"Serah, what's up?" I ask as I'm sprinting through the streets of Misaki. "You're never this on edge."

"Don't talk, just run," Serah says coldly. "If it's who I think it is, we need to stop him right now."

"Serah, you're starting to scare me," I tell her.

"I'll apologize when I'm certain he's dead," Serah says. "For now, keep moving."

My uneasiness kept growing with every step I took. This day started so nicely, what the hell happened? I guess I won't find out unless I keep moving. And so I kept moving, towards the crimson lord that has Serah so terrified.


End file.
